


When Did That Happen?

by BloomingBeaches



Series: Dream SMP Shenanigans [1]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Bad Person Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Long-Haired Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Mentioned Alexis | Quackity, Mentioned Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Mentioned polyamory, Multi, Time Travel, Time Travelling Karl Jacobs, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:28:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29273976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloomingBeaches/pseuds/BloomingBeaches
Summary: Karl visits Dream and they have a chat about what’s been happening on the SMP. Dream doesn’t feel so good after they talk.~~If any of the people mentioned in this fic express ANY discomfort with anything in this fic, I will delete this in respect of them and their wishes.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity/Karl Jacobs, Alexis | Quackity/Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Karl Jacobs/Sapnap
Series: Dream SMP Shenanigans [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2149860
Comments: 6
Kudos: 203





	When Did That Happen?

Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe he should just go back home. That would be thousands of times easier than facing the person who hurt everyone he loved. 

He was, much to his own dismay, already at the lava wall that separated the convicted man’s cell from the rest of the prison. It was much too late to turn back now. 

Karl noticed that he’d been getting hungry, so he’d turned to ask Sam for some food.

Sam ignored his request in favor of telling him to stand on the stone brick platform. “Just so you know, you’ll have to move with the platform or else you’ll burn to death. That would hurt.”

Karl laughed nervously, nodding. “Thanks, Sam.”

Then, the lava is falling down and he can see Dream’s face. It felt weird to see him without his mask, but as per the rules of the prison, he couldn’t have it on him. It feels so surreal to be visiting Dream, especially after he’d seen him roaming around peacefully and happily with everyone in the future. 

As soon as Sam can, he’s sending Karl across the lava. He can feel the heat and he’s a bit upset that he chose to wear his hoodie today instead of a regular shirt. He can see Dream, who looks a bit shocked to see Karl. His hair’s gotten longer. He should ask Sam to give the guy a haircut. He smiles at Dream, and Dream smiles back.

It’s not a smile you’d see from an old friend, though. It’s more of a nervous smile, like he’s meeting someone for the first time. It’s like he doesn’t know what to expect.

Karl steps off the platform and turns around to watch the lava flow down. He has to work up the courage to actually talk to the guy. Sure, he’d shown up and he’s seeing Dream.. But he wasn’t all too prepared to talk to him. He hopes nothing bad happens.

He fiddles with the wedding band on his ring finger.

The lava has fallen and he can no longer see Sam, so he turns around. Dream is staring at him hesitantly, eyes flickering from the ring on his finger to his face. Karl’s eyes have dark eyebags, his eyes look nearly the same except they hold just a bit more knowledge than when Dream was locked up. He wears the same sweater, but the colors are even more mismatched. Dream frowns. Karl looks so much more different than he’d remembered. How long had it been?

Dream’s lost count of the months, the weeks.. The days. He’s not entirely sure what today is--he doesn’t know if it’s someone’s birthday or someone’s wedding day or anniversary. He doesn’t know what he should know. He doesn’t like that.

He does, however, like Karl’s company. Karl’s always been nice to him, in one way or another.

“Hello.” He says, breaking the silence.

Karl smiles. He’s not as nervous anymore, but the feeling is still there. “Hey. How are you?”

“Alive, I guess.” Dream responds. “It’s boring in here. Just me and my clock.”

“You and your clock?” Karl asks. Dream nods, walking over to his clock and spins it. God, this is such a sad sight. Dream is.. Much more different than Karl has seen and known. Dream seems happier in the prison, so that’s good. 

He doesn’t have any expectations to hold. Well, except for not escaping, but that’s fairly easy, Karl would assume. “How have you been?” Dream queried. 

Karl smiles, “I’ve been doing pretty well! Sapnap, Quackity, and I finally had our wedding.”

  
Dream stops spinning his clock and Karl thinks that he shouldn’t have said that. Dream’s dirty blond hair shifts as he turns his head, “Tommy didn’t tell me about that..”

Karl frowns. Tommy had visited him recently? “..Sapnap sent you an invitation.”

The dirty blond’s eyes start watering. “He did?” His voice sounds hopeful. Then, he’s deflating. “I didn’t get one. Are you sure he sent it?”

“I was there when he sent it, he gave it to Tommy and everything. Sap seemed excited to have you there, if Sam would’ve let you come.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t come. I really wanted to.”

Karl noticed that Dream’s much more honest now that he has nowhere to run.

They fall into a tense silence for a couple of seconds.

“Do you know who I built this prison for?” Karl nods. “I.. I didn’t want to put you in here. I guess I got what I wanted, though.”

Karl laughs. “Yeah, I guess you did.”

Dream bites the bullet and asks, “How is George?” 

To say that Karl’s surprised would be an understatement. He hadn’t expected that question, no matter how close Dream and George used to be. He’d just assumed that the two had drifted away so much that they didn’t really think about the other--he knows that George doesn’t talk about Dream all too much.

“He’s doing pretty well, actually.” He smiles, “His house got blown up again, but Tommy helped him rebuild it.”

Dream looks surprised. “Tommy.. Helped George?”

Karls lets out a chuckle, “Yeah. Tommy’s been turning himself around. His hotel actually opened recently, everyone’s proud of him.”

Dream smiles wistfully. “I’m.. proud of him, too.” Karl doesn’t find that too hard to believe, despite everything that happened between the two. “I just wish he told me things, kept me in the loop while I’m in here.”

_ Quackity whispers to you: KARL WHERE ARE YOU _

_ Quackity whispers to you: KARL _

_ Quackity whispers to you: KRALLLL _

_ You whisper to Quackity: shut up, i’m talking to someone _

_ You whisper to Quackity: ily, pls dont be mad at me _

_ Quackity whispers to you: OHLMAO MY BAD BYE I LOVE YOU TOO _

“Quackity visited me once.” Dream smiles. “He, uh.. Really likes you. You’re like, the only thing he talked about besides Sapnap and drugs.”

Karl smiles. “Yeah.. that sounds like him.”

They fall into a comfortable silence. Karl missed this, being able to sit in silence without having to worry about filling in the gap with his talking. That’s why he was friend with Karl, because Karl didn’t have to talk as much, didn’t have to worry about uncomfortable silences for too long because they were just comfy around each other. Dream usually did most of the talking, anyways. “How was the wedding? Did Sapnap wear that white suit?”

He remembers it like it was yesterday (it was three months ago, six months after Dream had been locked up). Sapnap had worn that suit, and Quackity with his own navy blue suit. Karl wore a white suit as well, and he was quite happy with it. Their wedding was pretty neutral, their close friends attended. Techno and Phil came, too, Karl thinks. His memory’s been getting worse, but he does remember seeing two dressed-for-snow men at the wedding (perhaps it was Ranboo and not Techno?).

“He did. He looked stunning in it.” Dream smiled sadly, “Sapnap said you picked it out. Thank you,”

“You’re welcome.”

They fall into silence again. It’s a weird silence this time, because Karl doesn’t know if he is supposed to talk or not. He goes over everything Dream did in his mind--he hurt Sapnap, Tommy, Tubbo, Quackity, everybody. He took Friend and Beckerson and Henry, for Christ's sake!

Dream has hurt so many people, but when Karl looks at him right now, in the present as they sit in front of each other, a short distance away from arm’s length, Karl doesn’t see a heartless man that’s bent on hurting the people he once called his friends. 

Karl sees a man who’s happy--genuinely happy. He sees a man who may regret his past actions, Karl sees a man who wants to make amends and wants to change.

And maybe he can have that. Maybe,  _ just maybe _ , Tommy and Sam can work something out to help Dream. “You can.. See the future, right? I didn’t get you mixed up with someone else?” Dream whispers. Karl nods. “Time travel.” He corrects.

“What did you see?” His voice has gotten much louder. Karl guesses that this is one of those days where Dream doesn’t feel like talking much (which he can’t really complain about, he wouldn’t want to talk if he was locked up by his former friends either). 

“I’ve seen a lot.” Karl flinches lightly at the memories of swords being driven through his abdomen, of lights flashing as a successful festival takes place with minor harm, memories of cities falling and people dying. “What do you want to know about?”

“Everything.”

Karl chuckles. “That’s a lot of information. Are you sure you want to hear it?”

Dream nods.

“If you want to tell me.”

So he tells him. Karl probably shouldn’t be telling him, but it’s kind of hard no to when he knows he’ll just be pestered until he does tell Dream about it. Dream’s eyes light up as he listens to Karl tell intricate stories. He listens as Karl tells him about an underwater city where four fishermen meet their doom, he listens as Karl tells him about a red egg under a mansion where someone who’s awfully similar to people they both know meet their horrifying end. He listens to stuff from the present, past, and future. Dream listens as Karl tells him about George building his house at least once a month, with more and more people helping him each time.Dream listens to every story, and as each story gets longer and more intricate and captivating, he feels a weird feeling start to bubble up in his gut and make its way up his throat.

He realizes, slowly but surely, that  _ he _ could be in some of those stories if he’d done things differently. He realizes that he should be in those stories. He wants to be in those stories so bad… He wants to be with his friends, making memories and having inside jokes that no one else understands except them. 

“Dream?” Karl asks, waving a hand in front of Dream’s pale face. “Are you okay?”

Dream shakes his head. “I’m gonna be sick.” He says before he’s rushing to what Tommy has dubbed ‘Dream’s Toilet’ and hacking up his lungs. Karl watches in abject horror and Dream spills his lunch into the water, watching it turn a sickly green color.

It takes a few seconds for Sam to lower the lava and send Karl back.

Dream feels so bad, but what’s he supposed to do when no one but Tommy and Karl will visit him?

How is he supposed to make amends when no one will let him have that chance?

He barely manages to hear Karl’s promise of a return over the ringing in his ears.


End file.
